Welsh Fire ended Birmingham Phoenix’s slim hopes of reaching The Hundred women’s knockout stages and picked up their first win of the season with a 36-run triumph at Edgbaston.
All-rounder Jess Jonassen smashed 44 runs off just 17 deliveries, including four successive sizes, to help Fire set an imposing target of 151, before picking up 3-24 with the ball.
After losing four of their opening five matches, Phoenix needed to win their three remaining games and have a number of other results go their way to bridge the 12-point gap to the top three, but failed to keep their campaign alive despite a half-century from captain Ellyse Perry.
Phoenix were reduced to 5-2 after six deliveries, with Shabnim Ismail, who claimed 3-16 overall, bowling Emma Lamb and trapping Marie Kelly lbw.
A 56-run stand between Perry and Georgia Voll briefly kept the hosts in the contest, but two wickets in two balls swung momentum back in Welsh Fire’s favour and Phoenix’s failure to build any other meaningful partnerships prevented them from mounting a serious chase.
Perry, who scored 55 off 43 balls, was eventually dismissed by Ismail in the penultimate set, with Jonassen and Hayley Matthews the other wicket-takers.
Sophia Dunkley scored 53 runs off 43 balls and shared a 71-run second-wicket stand with Matthews to lay the foundations for already-eliminated Fire.
All-rounder Jonassen then smashed three fours and four maximums as part of her blistering innings to help Fire post 150-3 – their highest score of the season.